Yarri K (asker) Nov 3, 2014:

Thank you all for some very good suggestions and comments. It is going to be hard to pick a "winner".

Andrew Sharp Nov 3, 2014:

The fatherland or death. Until victory. The quote may also derive from the two most famous slogans from the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro's 'la patria o la muerte' and Che Guevara's 'hasta la victoria' . The Cuban revolution was always a good model for other ones. There will never be a perfect quote for these kinds of phrases but I think in the context of revolutionary 3rd world struggles a 'foreignized' translation is acceptable.

DLyons Nov 1, 2014:

The book De la lucha de clases a la lucha de frases: (de la propaganda a la publicidad), Eulalio Ferrer Rodríguez, Aguilar, 1995 suggests that the origin of the phrase traces back at least as far as the 1847 Invasion of Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican–American_War)

"To fall" is IMHO too euphemistic for the revolutionary context - it's associated with Castro, Guevara ...

And "We shall overcome" would be ideal except that it has taken on such a strong Civil Rights colour as to be unusable :-)

Yvonne Gallagher Nov 1, 2014:

@ Duncan

it also links to the American Civil Rights anthem of "We shall overcome"

Duncan Moncrieff Nov 1, 2014:

@Gallagy I find that that you suggestion gives something that rings a chord with me. It also avoids any of the negative connotations associated with "fatherland" (i.e. nazi Germany).

+1 for "We might fall today but tomorrow we shall prevail!"

Yvonne Gallagher Nov 1, 2014:

@ Yarri..Good luck for your country

@ Duncan

I quite like your "we might fall today". If this were combined with AT's "we shall prevail" it could work

"We might fall today but tomorrow our Fatherland/we shall prevail!"

Yarri K (asker) Oct 31, 2014:

@philgoddard No, I have young kids at home. We have just been whistling in support of the protesters : )

Yarri K (asker) Oct 31, 2014:

@DLyons Thanks for that info - I did not know about that Cuban connection. And it makes sense, as Sankara and Castro were great friends.

philgoddard Oct 31, 2014:

Have you been taking part in the protests, Yarri K?

DLyons Oct 31, 2014:

Why translate into English? It presumably is inspired by Catsto's 1960 (and subsequent) "¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!" which has become the Cuban motto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

Which seems roughly contemporary with Blanco's "Tierra o Muerte ¡Venceremos!"

Carol Gullidge Oct 31, 2014:

agree with you, Duncan and if you think about it, anything along the lines of "Fatherland or death!" or even "fight or die" (with its implication that you do one without- and not as a consequence of - the other) make no sense at all

Duncan Moncrieff Oct 31, 2014:

I think you have to leave the source behind... For a slogan like this that loses its power in English I think you need to take the ideas that are conveyed in the original, and use them to come up with something that has the same sense and force in English.

The main idea (IMO) is that the revolutionary forces will succeed and are prepared to die fighting for it.
You could express this in many ways, e.g.:
"We might fall today, but tomorrow we rule/win/succeed!"
"By our blood, our country!
"Our land, by our blood, our success/victory!"
...
I don't know the politics of Burkina Faso to know what would work the best. But you'd need to adapt it: a political slogan is a marketing slogan; you have to translate (and adapt) the idea, not the words.